The impact of organizational memory on the development of new products in knowledge-based companies

Nowadays, offering the best performance for the development of a new product has become the most important concern of the managers in knowledge-based companies. They try to achieve a superior performance by using different techniques. Organizational memory is a knowledge representation and an accumulated organizational experience that can have adverse or unfavorable consequences for the development of new products in turbulent technological markets. Understanding the mechanisms and underlying factors that shape the role of organizational memory is important to improve the performance of new product development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of organizational memory on new product development performance in knowledge-based companies. The investigation is conducted by explaining the role of organizational ambidexterity, technological turbulence and organizational Innovation. The managers and vice presidents of the knowledge-based companies located in the science and technology parks of Tehran University constituted the research population. A random sampling method and Cochran formula were used to obtain the research sample. A standardized questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting the required data whose validity and reliability were examined through the content validity and Cronbach's alpha respectively. The PLS software and structural equation modeling were used for the data analysis. The findings show that organizational memory has a significant effect on the new product development performance through organizational ambidexterity, and organizational innovation and technological turbulence proved to have a moderating role in the relationship between organizational memory and organizational ambidexterity. The results also show that exploration and exploitation will help to better utilize organizational memory to increase the new product development performance.